I agree. We have been given this data with nothing to compare it to. MrStickball used to post sales for XBLA but we never really had a comprehensive chart for PSN. Even then we wouldn't know the amount of profit each developer is making.

This whole topic is so irrelevant after there were different reports and estimates by different analystzs that XBL makes 1.1 - 1.4 billion USD this year. nuff said

/thread

Obviously they want money, so it's their fault for not releasing it on XBLA.with a publisher.

Trials HD sold over 500k digital copies for example. Even with a third party publisher Hello Games would have made tons of money from an XBLA release.

whats that related to this topic?

1.1 - 1.4 is what Microsoft gets out of XBL , not related to what publishers get.

No, what they get is revenue and from that revenue the developers also get their cut.

He made some broad (but mostly accurate) statements about Xbox Live Arcade, without delving into the reasons as to why self-publishers do poorly on Xbox Live Arcade.

I'll give you a hint: inexperience

Not the kind of inexperience (developing a game) your thinking of, but another kind: Marketing and brand name.

There is no difference between XBLA and PSN in that regard. The reason self-published games choke on XBLA is not because XBLA is a slaughterhouse, but because these studios do not understand how to promote their game properly, and studios like EA or the other big boys do.

By his own admission, there is a certain percentage of self-published games that do well. I'll even give you a hint: 2 of the top 3 best-selling XBLA titles are self-published. One of which happens to be another motorcycle game (hint hint).

Look at the games that crash on XBLA - they either suck, or are poorly promoted. XBLA is not a market place (just like PSN or Steam) that users just randomly go on, and purchase games simply because its there. Users must be drawn to the title, and have some interest in trying it out...Brand and title awareness are very key in promoting a product. Likewise, most XBLA games convert into purchases at >10%, so if no one goes to the game, no one buys it.

Problem is, self-published studios don't understand that. If you look at promotions for these failed games...You usually find the common thread that no one is talking about the stated game. I don't know their marketing budgets, but I would imagine they are non-existent or very meager by comparison to the better-selling titles. Compare that to the big boys like EA, Konami, Microsoft, Atari, and the rest which have marketing staff and can cross-promote title libraries, and you understand why publishers do it. In fact, I had a discussion with one of PSN's best development studios about this very issue - self publishing doesn't work when you don't understand the market.

Now, I have to ask....Why didn't this developer cite comparative statistics for PSN to show that a larger number of self-published titles do better?

The guy states flat out that these are not official figures, but just his expectations.  To argue  them as if they are fact is competely asinine...

All I know from my own experience with XBLA titles is that the cream rises to the top.  The XBLA library is sortable by user ratings so even smaller budget games from lesser known developers will be noticed if they're rated highly by those who have actually played them.  Word gets around.

It sounds as if the developer is afraid the game will get lost in XBLA because there is so much traffic there.

To me, that is not exactly a ringing self-endorsement of your abilities

Mike from Morgantown

So they are afraid of the better games that Xbox users can choose ... On Psn there´s no competition so people will buy this... because they wont have much more choices...

So is this right ?

Yea, compare it to a run-away success, because it also has bikes so it must be able to match that success *facepalm*

Hello games definitely favored security over possible success here and in their view there was a higher chance to break even (to not die after their first game for fucks sake) on PSN - who are you to criticize them for that decision?